Posted
by
samzenpus
on Monday June 20, 2011 @01:07AM
from the If-you-don't-have-anything-nice-to-say dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like aerospace consulting firm Valador tried to bite off more than it can chew. After already having bagged lucrative 'safety review' contracts with SpaceX' competitors, it tried to sell its services to SpaceX as well. However, according to SpaceX' claims in a recent court filing, Valador tried to juice up their sales pitch by first spreading rumors at key NASA offices that SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is 'unsafe', and then generously offering its services to SpaceX to aid them with addressing any undeserved bias against them among NASA officials. In true California fashion (being the most litigious state of the nation), SpaceX is having none of that and is taking Valador to court for defamation, seeking damages identical to the value of the consulting contract Valador tried to sell to them."CT: It appears that the link in this story has disappeared. If you can find something better, post it.

This seems like a clear cut cases of defamation. Intentionally spreading malicious rumors, and then offering to clean up those same rumors for a price is pretty low, and if Valador is guilty, they absolutely should be sued.

This seems like a clear cut cases of defamation. Intentionally spreading malicious rumors, and then offering to clean up those same rumors for a price is pretty low, and if Valador is guilty, they absolutely should be sued.

"That's a nice launch vehicle you've got there. It'd be a real pity if NASA were to believe that it tends to catch fire..."

I challenge anyone to say that a tiny little compartment sitting on top of a gigantic tube of high combustible fuel which is intentionally ignited is actually safe!Let's not forget additional issues such as the fact such as it being basically a cylinder with tiny little fits on its ass end being shot up at insane speeds into the extremely unfriendly atmosphere of the earth, later to then reenter at even more insane speeds that damn near engulfing the returning capsule with flames caused by drag against... A

"Safe" is a relative term. Yes, going into space is dangerous. Yes there will be fatal accidents. Cars and airplanes have fatal accidents too. Space travel will always be more dangerous than cars or airplanes. But you can certainly be safer than the space shuttle - which is a very low bar to pass. And you can certainly be more or less safe than your competitors.

I think you mean the People's Republic of California.
And as a Georgian, I have no issues with not being allowed in California, I really don't have any desire to visit or live there. Reciprocally, I don't want any Californians in Georgia, so you need to add a few laws restricting them from ever leaving the state.

Georgia: Better weather, unless you're into winter sports. People are really racist, but otherwise friendlier.California: More crowded in the living areas, but more empty in the open spaces, and a better variety of them. People are more creative, but there are a much higher number of mentally ill.

When I arrived at work this morning, I found this gem of news in my inbox. I have no personal knowledge of what happened and nothing to add to the article - but I think it pretty much speaks for itself:

Quote 1:

Early in June 2011, on behalf of Valador, Fragola attempted to obtain a consulting contract from SpaceX worth as much as $1 million. He claimed that SpaceX needed an ‘independent’ analysis of its rocket to bolster its reputation with NASA based on what he called an unfair ‘perception’ about SpaceX. SpaceX did not respond favorably to Fragola’s offer.

Quote 2:

Fragola sent this email to a NASA official on June 8: “I have just heard a rumor [] that the Falcon 9 experienced a double engine failure in the first stage and that the entire stage blew up just after the first stage separated.”

Quote 3:

“Fragola’s statements are blatantly false [] there was not ‘double-engine’ failure, nor even a single engine failure. The launch was broadcast by a camera on the Dragon spacecraft, which vividly showed the separation of the first stage - and no explosion occurred.”

Some of us are in this because we want to see humanity making children in space as soon as possible; others are because they want to line their pockets as much as possible. I’ll leave it up to you to decide who falls into which category.

"Falcon 9 experienced a double engine failure in the first stage and that the entire stage blew up just after the first stage separated.”
Funny that I did not seen that in live feed of any F9 launch. And I watched them multiple times. Must be this SpaceX kool aid.
I will not even mention little details like telemetry, feedback and that NASA can indepedently detect when something blows up, thankyouverymuch...

The Falcon 9 isn't safe. But then again I doubt that any rocket will ever be "safe". It will be a long time before you strap a human into any thing that then goes from 0 to 18,000+ MPH and well over 100 miles up in anything that a reasonable person calls safe. Space travel is not safe or fool proof. Heck the only reason that we can strap people in to aluminum tubes and fly them around at 500+mph and 7 plus miles up and make it reasonable safe is around 100 years of mistakes and many many flights.Of course V

Yes and no. Yes it is intended for medium and heavy lift but it is also man rated like the Titan III was and the Saturn V.You know they flew the Dragon Capsule on it didn't you? They Titan III was supposed to be used for the X-20 and the MOLE as well as other projects. It was supposed to replace the Saturn Ib for a lot of manned leo missions. It could have been used to resupply are even expand Skylab had it been funded.The Saturn V flew a few times unmanned and was used to launch Skylab.I still wonder what

I am pretty sure that TitanIIIc was actually man rated or was in the process to be. http://www.airliners.net/uf/44100/phpX0sCIF.jpeg [airliners.net] Is a picture of it flying the one and only Gemini/MOLE test fight. Since it was supposed to be manned I would say it was manned rated or well on the way to be.The Falcon9 was built to be man rated from the start has it passed yet? I am not sure about that but that is the intention.

Correct. Falcon 9 was designed to be man-rated, but SpaceX isn't spending the money to jump through NASA's hoops until they have more of a hope of a contract for human launch services. Man rating is a high enough hurdle that LM and Boeing have refrained from man rating the Delta IV or Atlas V on their own nickels.

Um, last time I looked California is the most populous state in the nation. This submitter claim is as bogus as those who try to claim the 9th district court is somehow biased because it decides more cases of X (fill in bias here), while ignoring that it represents most states west of the rockies.

Full quote from interestingly slanted summary:

In true California fashion (being the most litigious state of the nation)

Many of the comments here question the ethics of Valador. Here's an interesting tidbit: the CEO, Kevin Mabie, is a U.S. military veteran, disabled in the line of duty. Check this out. [valador.com]. Which raises two questions:

1) How dare you people dishonor a distinguished military veteran, who lost his... something... defending your freedoms? Don't you realize that the moment he was discharged from active duty, he instantly became a paragon of virtue, unable to lie, cheat, or defraud, and thus this accusation by SpaceX is not only baseless, but treasonous?

2) How difficult is it to fake this sort of thing [osd.mil]? And does anyone in the Slashdot community care enough to go the extra mile to check his credentials, and possibly make some *real* news?

If Mabie really has engaged in fraud and extortion in his business practices, wouldn't it be interesting if he was also lying about his military service, dishonoring veterans like yourself? It's a long shot, but you never know.

In fact, I wonder if there is any tie from that guy back to L-Mart? These days L-Mart is working hard on hit jobs on SpaceX. They have done loads of lobbying jobs on SpaceX, trying to prevent them from even getting a CHANCE at a job, and
now has [forbes.com] started
an astroturfing 'journalists' [forbes.com] similar to MS's use of Rob Enderle against Linux and Android. Sadly, it means that SpaceX has had to waste time and money fighting not just Valador, but
L-Mart's lobbyists [spacenews.com] and hitmen. [forbes.com]

There are now many companies that are fighting against all that Musk attempts to do. He really is shaking up the Global industries as he decides to go into them.